Preview of Black History Month

Dion Figueroa | Correspondent

Black History Month runs for the whole month of February and NC State’s Department of Multicultural Affairs has an array of events scheduled to celebrate Black History and Black culture.

The program kicks off on Wednesday, February 1st at 6:30 PM with “Black Girl Magic” in Talley Student Union’s Piedmont Ballroom. High school teacher and fashion blog operator, Kimberlee Postell, will be coming to NC State to hold a discussion on identity representation and black womanhood. On the same day in Witherspoon 218 from 9 AM to 5 PM, an art gallery will be on display depicting “Portraits from the African American Music Trails of North Carolina.” The gallery will be open from February 1st through March 4th.

On February 2nd starting at 5 PM in Witherspoon 201 a series of lectures and panels titled “Unlawfully Incarcerated: A Panel Discussion with Survivors of Unjust Incarceration” will be held. The discussions will be themed around this year’s common reading, Just Mercy, and the impact that unlawful incarceration has on the community.

Late in the second week of celebrations Dr. Sylvester Jim Gates, Jr. will be visiting NC State. The February 9th talk “Equity vs. Excellence: A False Dichotomy in Science and Society” will be held in Talley 3285 at 6 PM. Dr. Gates will be speaking on the varied issues of diversity from an evidence-based and scientific point of view. Dr. Gates is a physicist at the University of Maryland, and served on former President Barack Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

On Wednesday, February 15th Multicultural Young Educators Network (MYEN) and the Women’s Center are hosting a panel on “Role Models and Representation.” The panel scheduled for 6 PM in Park Shops 210 will feature women of color from the education field speaking about their experiences rising through the ranks of their respective careers.

From 9 AM to 2 PM on Saturday, February 18th in Witherspoon 126 the African American Cultural Center & AYA Ambassadors will be hosting “Blacks in Wax.” The annual event will allow visitors to learn about key historical African-American figures by the figures themselves. NC State students will dressed up and portraying these figures allowing people to get a hands-on unique experience, while learning about African-American History.

During the last week of the program there are two events that stand out. First is the film viewing of Mon amie Victoria (My Friend Victoria) in the Witherspoon theater. The film “probes the life of Victoria, a French-born woman of African ancestry who gives birth to a daughter by Thomas, a white Frenchman who is the scion of a left-wing but rich Parisian family.” It then follows her life as she deals with the issues of being accepted in her family. Although the film does not deal overtly with the topic of racism, many of the sub themes of the film deal with diversity in today’s society.

Lastly, to finish off African-American History Month, Camille A. Brown & Dancers will be performing “Black Girl: Linguistic Play.” The event sponsored by NC State LIVE will be hosted in Stewart Theatre in the Talley Student Union at 8 PM on Saturday, February 25th. The play uses the “rhythmic play of African-American dance vernacular” to speak about the issues of Black womanhood in a racially and politically divided world.

This is in no means a comprehensive calendar of events happening around campus, but only a spotlight on some of the larger events. There are countless more events that can be found on the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs’ website: oied.ncsu.edu/MSA/black-history-month-2017/.